During the first time touring together as a band, the Believers had only one way to describe the ordeal.

“We call it disas-tour,” lead singer Tyler Powell says. “It was still fun in a strange way.”

After traveling around the state playing their first set of shows, their van broke down. Attempting to get home, the members of the group worked together to “scrounge” rides, renting other vans, calling taxis and contacting far-fetched family members to try and help them. But even after their worst moment, band members say they still love playing music together.

“It was horrible, stupid and expensive, but there was still a sense of camaraderie,” drummer Taylor Bacon says. “In the worst aspect, (we were still) laughing, working together and getting along.”

The night before the van broke down, the group played a show in Champaign, Ill., that members say was one of the worst shows any of them had played in their lives. The venue was a mess, amps were cutting out, the sound was way too loud and a crowd of about five people watched as the band’s computer broke, forcing the band to cut songs from its set list. The group says the only thing they had going for them was that the show was on guitarist Wesley Powell’s birthday.

“It reminds you why being in band and touring is a horrible experience,” Bacon says. “If you’re a starting band, you’re going to have a lot more of those kind of shows than you’re ever going to have of festival shows.”

The family duo of Tyler and Wesley Powell started the band. They recruited Bacon and Pete Hansen, as well as cousin Travis Boots, to join them.

“On a whim, we kind of asked a friend of ours if we could play True/False (Film Fest),” Tyler says. “We did not have a band at all. We just had some sketches of songs and threw them at her, and she gave us a show.”

The group will take to the stage Saturday night at The Blue Note to play its final show with the current lineup. After working with the band since its conception, Bacon and Hansen have decided to leave the group.

“We’re in a tricky position,” Tyler says. “Everybody in this band has lives, and those lives are pulling them elsewhere. We’re in a pickle. We’re trying to keep moving, keep the pace that we’re at, but obviously it’s going to be a big challenge.”

From playing the True/False Film Fest for the past two years to traveling to Midwestern college towns for shows, the Columbia locals say they have their share of stories about their musical careers thus far.

“Making it as a band is extremely tedious work,” Bacon says. “It straps your cash, you spend your vacation time working and just pissing away your savings to make it, which is such a far-fetched idea in the first place.”

The rest of the band agrees, saying none of them are trying to “make it,” and that’s not what they set out to accomplish. Instead, they’re playing music they enjoy.

“Ty and West wrote every bit of the music, and, between Pete, Travis and I, we interpret the rhythm to work with what they have in mind and to expand on it a little bit more,” Bacon says. “It’s been totally greater than I think anything we ever thought could come together.”

Wesley says they’ve played roughly 20 shows in the past year, with most of the shows being in Columbia.

“We have the hometown advantage here,” he says.

The band’s name comes from each member’s religious background. The band was quick to point out, however, that the name doesn’t have great meaning. Instead, it’s just a coincidence uniting the five group members.

“There was a funny tendency among religious folks to classify people as both believers and non-believers,” Tyler says. “It’s not intended to be a diss or anything sarcastic.”

Looking back on his work with the band, Bacon says his experience has been one of the most satisfying he’s had during his 15-year career as a musician.

“It’s not like we’re creating anything totally abstract or beyond the realm of comprehension,” Bacon says. “It’s pop music. It’s a formula that’s been handed down from generation to generation. We’re not totally creating anything new, but we are creating things that are honest and earnest to ourselves.”

The group’s first recorded material, an EP with six songs, is available on [the band’s website](http://believersbelievers.com/).

“To be brutally honest, I don’t think it represents a fraction of what we can do as a band,” Bacon says. “It’s a good documentation of what we can do initially, but what we’ve finally come to, I think we’re much greater than that. It sounds great, but I think there’s a capability of greater stuff.”

The band will celebrate its album release at Saturday night’s show, which will also mark the release of the band’s debut EP, though the songs have been available on the band’s website for months. The group has six other songs that have yet to be recorded.

“We went into it with the mindset that recorded music and performed music are two separate entities,” Powell says. “Live, it’s going to be a lot more energetic. There’s going to be a lot more interplay that wouldn’t otherwise be there.”

All of the band members work jobs outside of the band to help support themselves. Of the five, Tyler is the only one in the group with a college education.

“The fact of the matter is, keeping a band together and working together on the same page for a year without squabbling while touring is never, ever an easy task,” Bacon says. “We all work in restaurants, we all do that kind of (thing), we all make food for other people.”

After leaving the band, Bacon wants to head back to school, while Hansen plans to go see the world.

“(Getting) five people to work together is truly a difficult process,” Bacon says. “There’s nothing easy about being in a band. We’re at an earnest stage in where we are that it doesn’t affect us to talk real candidly about it.”

Despite losing two of their founding members, the Powells will continue on with the band’s name.

“These are actual truths for any band,” Bacon says. “You cannot function as a unit for years on end without life goals coming into play.”